Jason Ritter Recalls Getting His First Acting Job Thanks To Late Dad John Ritter

Jason Ritter is opening up about what it was like growing up as the son of John Ritter.

The 43-year-old actor was a guest on The Jess Cagle Show and leaned into the “nepo baby” conversation, recognizing that his very first role was very much about that, and John was the reason he landed the role.

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Jason explained that he was actually a “little kid, when I was maybe 6 or something like that, my dad was doing this cartoon called The Real Story of O Christmas Tree…”

“I will say, without any hesitation, this was like a full-on nepotism hire. I will admit that. He for sure got me the job. I did try to stay away from that later,” he added.

Jason went on, saying that he played a character named “Little Acorn in The Real Story of O Christmas Tree, and he played my Uncle Piney. It was funny because, as I grew up and I found that recording again, I went, ‘Oh, they must have sped up my voice to make it that high.’ Both my mom and dad were like, ‘No, no. That was, yeah… It was pretty high. Jason, that was your voice.”

He also recalled going to sets with John as a child, and being bitten by the acting bug.

“It was always a special experience,” he shared. “I remember the first time I went, I don’t even know what he was shooting, but it was a night shoot. And so like the idea of staying up all night was so exciting and so crazy to me.”

He says that he was about “8″ and remembers “going [home] at the end of the day, so probably five or six in the morning, it’s still dark outside, and we found a McDonald’s, and we were inside. It was like dark in a McDonald’s, and I was like, ‘There’s a world like this?’ I had no idea. I thought everyone went to sleep at a certain point.”

“It was all very exciting. So yeah, I mean, you know, it was fun to go visit and see where he worked, and it was always different. And night shoots were always my favorite cause there’s sort of a surreal element to it, especially outdoor night shoots, where they’ve brought in all these crazy lights, and everything’s dark and nighttime except for [what] looks like an alien landing somewhere down the way in the woods.”

He explained, “I always really loved it. It was fun to see my dad dressed in all kinds of bizarre costumes.”

John passed away in 2003 after an aortic dissection, during a break from 8 Simple Rules.

His TV, and real, family reunites annually for the Heart LA Gala.